Schools could save up to £30m by using a new recruitment website to hire teachers and support staff, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has claimed.
The new Schools Recruitment Service uses the latest applicant tracking technology to save schools time and money on their administrative processes and allows authorities to upload their job vacancies. Candidates can create a personal account to apply for jobs online.
Currently, it is estimated that schools spend at least £46.7m annually on advertising and filling 100,000 teaching vacancies, and a further 50,000 non-teaching positions such as administrative staff and school catering staff in England.
The site has already sparked interest among 52 local authorities, representing more than 8,000 schools and 32 academies.
A typical secondary school would expect to pay about £250 per year to use the service.
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Schools minister Vernon Coaker said: “This is a watershed in how schools recruit staff. Too often recruiting staff takes up far too much time and is a costly, long-winded process. This harnesses innovative online technology to make it a painless, speedy and more cost-efficient exercise.”
Tribal Group was appointed as the contractor to administer the service in May 2009 following a Europe-wide competitive tendering exercise.
